You know i'm a bit conflicted on this. Just speaking from my personal views, for the most part staff are supportive in the sense that if you ask for their help they offer it. However perhaps one of the biggest things I have run into with staff is apparently some... well from what I understand policy that prevents them from having an opinion. Once again this is just based off personal opinion and experiences, but I have tried to talk to some staff in the past, and get their opinion on ideas, and yet I casually get the same response which is something along the lines of 'I can only tell you whether or not you can do something' which to me means 'I can't tell you how I honestly feel about it'.
It would be nice to actually get opinions from staff, which equal more than yes it is doable or no it isn't. I don't know if this really is a policy but that is what it comes across.
Aside from the indifference I can't really say I have any other issues.
[Poll] Do Staff Support You?
There can be dangers to that too. The one time I've actually been miffed about being told no was when I thought I had been given the green light when consulting with staff earlier.It would be nice to actually get opinions from staff, which equal more than yes it is doable or no it isn't.
But that being said, the final decision was the correct one for the game's sake, and that's more important than any assurances given to me earlier.
There is a policy in place that staff are not allowed to judge player RP or choices. That means, in practice, that yes we don't share our opinions.
Firstly, our opinions shouldn't matter, all players should get the same service, which they won't get if staff are engaged on the basis of their opinion. Secondly, I don't want staff to be responsible for player outcomes, which they partially would be if they help players hash out plans. Thirdly, a player needs to author their own destiny, not get a how to guide from staff to enable their goals - most queries about our opinion are seeking guidance on how to make a play succeed, which means if it fails, we've misled someone. Finally, we don't want staff to build emotional attachment to particular RP outcomes.
That policy came into place after a staff member had a polite, albeit all too candid conversation with a player about how dumb they thought a player's RP was and how it would never fly. The staff member is long gone, but I stand by the policy.
Firstly, our opinions shouldn't matter, all players should get the same service, which they won't get if staff are engaged on the basis of their opinion. Secondly, I don't want staff to be responsible for player outcomes, which they partially would be if they help players hash out plans. Thirdly, a player needs to author their own destiny, not get a how to guide from staff to enable their goals - most queries about our opinion are seeking guidance on how to make a play succeed, which means if it fails, we've misled someone. Finally, we don't want staff to build emotional attachment to particular RP outcomes.
That policy came into place after a staff member had a polite, albeit all too candid conversation with a player about how dumb they thought a player's RP was and how it would never fly. The staff member is long gone, but I stand by the policy.
Pointless semi-newbie opinion...
In my relatively short time here (I think it's been nearly two months now) I haven't run into any negative issues with Staff. Not even the hint of an issue. On the contrary I've gotten the impression that Staff hold themselves unusually accountable and actually get things done. You don't see the MUD/MUSH-semi-typical Staff list constantly idle or afk for days at a time, dropping in only to chat and vanishing onto alts. The OOC meetings are really impressive. Staff sitting down once a week with players for the purpose of making themselves accountable for their progress on game development? That's amazing. It's just one person's opinion, here, but I tend to feel that TI is astoundingly well administrated.
With that said, I actually had no idea that Staff were even intended to be responsible for supporting personal RP beyond maintaining a general bead on how things are going on the grid. I probably just don't understand, but I have a hard time seeing any way that Staff could be involved on that level without it devolving, sooner or later, into a messy situation. It's easy for folks to mistrust a Staff member's motives when their plot disfavors them, even if that's exactly how the plot should logically run. Add in situations where folks lose their characters to death or worse and, if that's the cause of Staff's inspiration and involvement, even more emotional issues crop up.
Pulling the strings from too close makes the puppets obvious, if that makes any sense.
Two cents, probably useless, but there we go!
In my relatively short time here (I think it's been nearly two months now) I haven't run into any negative issues with Staff. Not even the hint of an issue. On the contrary I've gotten the impression that Staff hold themselves unusually accountable and actually get things done. You don't see the MUD/MUSH-semi-typical Staff list constantly idle or afk for days at a time, dropping in only to chat and vanishing onto alts. The OOC meetings are really impressive. Staff sitting down once a week with players for the purpose of making themselves accountable for their progress on game development? That's amazing. It's just one person's opinion, here, but I tend to feel that TI is astoundingly well administrated.
With that said, I actually had no idea that Staff were even intended to be responsible for supporting personal RP beyond maintaining a general bead on how things are going on the grid. I probably just don't understand, but I have a hard time seeing any way that Staff could be involved on that level without it devolving, sooner or later, into a messy situation. It's easy for folks to mistrust a Staff member's motives when their plot disfavors them, even if that's exactly how the plot should logically run. Add in situations where folks lose their characters to death or worse and, if that's the cause of Staff's inspiration and involvement, even more emotional issues crop up.
Pulling the strings from too close makes the puppets obvious, if that makes any sense.
Two cents, probably useless, but there we go!
I think some people confuse whether the theme help files or game processes are supportive as opposed to staff.
In particular what I want to know is whether the view that staff are "curmudgeon-y and resistant to helping players enact RP", most typically through RPA, is a correct view.
In particular what I want to know is whether the view that staff are "curmudgeon-y and resistant to helping players enact RP", most typically through RPA, is a correct view.
Re: Pixie,
We offer Role-play Assistance for Quest Points, but are otherwise hands-off. RPA focuses on providing the support to do things you couldn't code wise do, like investigate a set of footprints by the lake. It's particularly focused on helping people with the "how" they intend to achieve a goal rather than assisting them in achieving a goal outcome. I hope that makes sense?
The example we used earlier today in discussions is that we'll help you investigate a pair of footprints by the lake, but you can't pay us for RPA to know where Bob is.
We offer Role-play Assistance for Quest Points, but are otherwise hands-off. RPA focuses on providing the support to do things you couldn't code wise do, like investigate a set of footprints by the lake. It's particularly focused on helping people with the "how" they intend to achieve a goal rather than assisting them in achieving a goal outcome. I hope that makes sense?
The example we used earlier today in discussions is that we'll help you investigate a pair of footprints by the lake, but you can't pay us for RPA to know where Bob is.
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